Objective
To investigate the association between maternal anemia and low/insufficient birth weight.
Design A prospective cohort study of pregnant women who underwent prenatal care at the healthcare
units in a municipality of northeast Brazil together with their newborn infants was carried
out. The pregnant women were classified as having anemia when the hemoglobin level
was below 11 g/dl. Infants who were born full term weighing less than 2500 grams were classified
as low birth weight, and those weighing between 2500 and 2999 grams were classified
as insufficient weight. The occurrence of maternal anemia and its association with birth
weight was verified using crude and adjusted Relative Risk (RR) estimates with their corresponding
95% confidence intervals (95%CIs). Results
The final sample was comprised of 622 women. Maternal anemia was considered a risk factor
for low/insufficient birth weight, after adjusting the effect measurement for maternal age,
family income, urinary infection, parity, alcoholic beverage consumption during pregnancy
and gestational body mass index: RRadjusted = 1.38 [95% CI: 1.07 to 1.77].
Conclusions Maternal anemia was associated with low/insufficient birth weight, representing a risk factor
for the gestational outcomes studied